London Probate Index 1750-1858

Explore more than 62,000 administrative records and wills. This index covers the administration of estates at nine courts not covered by the index for London and Middlesex probate entries 1750-1858 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury series held at The National Archives.

A probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs.

Each entry in this index includes a transcript. The amount of details in each record can vary but most will include:

Name and birth year

Date of probate or the grant of representation to the estate

Record type (a will, administration or other record)

Court

Parish and county

Aliases and former or other surnames

The index is easily as rich and varied as the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), albeit necessarily on a smaller scale. There are entries from all over England (and particularly Essex and Hertfordshire as the jurisdiction of the Consistory Court of London stretched into those two counties), plus Ireland, Scotland and Wales; but great strength also lies in prodigious numbers of people domiciled or dying abroad, and of soldiers and sailors on active service - in virtually every case, the regiment or ship's name is given.